Emotional Support Animals, Service Dogs, and Therapy Animals
If you are a pet owner, you know how much they can help with your quality of life, including your mental health! Many people with mental illness and other disabilities benefit from having animals as companions or even as therapy.
An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is a companion whose presence can help calm someone and relieve some of the symptoms of their illness. A variety of pets can take this role, and no special training is required; the animal just naturally helps you! If you want your pet to be recognized as an official Emotional Support Animal, you will need a note from your doctor or counsellor that states that your pet helps you with your illness and is your emotional support animal. But unlike Service Animals, this designation doesn’t mean that you can take them everywhere—only some places allow Emotional Support Animals.
A service dog helps with specific symptoms of an illness. Many people know about guide dogs for the visually impaired, but service dogs can have many other tasks. For example, some dogs are trained to identify low or high blood sugar for people with diabetes or predict seizures in those with epilepsy. There are people with schizophrenia who have service dogs trained to help identify if something is real or a hallucination, and some people with PTSD have a service dog trained to apply Deep Pressure Therapy. Service dogs can also be trained to alert to anxiety and interrupt anxious behaviours.
To be recognized as a service dog in BC, the dog needs to be trained to do two tasks to help with their handler’s illness, and the handler must have a note from their doctor or psychiatrist stating that the dog is trained to help with their illness. The dog also must pass a Public Access test that ensures they will be safe, not become frightened, and display appropriate behaviour in public.
A Service Dog in Training is not allowed everywhere like a fully certified service dog, but many places do welcome them. Some dogs are specifically bred to be service dogs, but many dogs are naturals! There are a lot of YouTube videos that help those who want to train their dog themselves.
The downside of having a Service Dog is that it draws a lot of attention your way! Many people have Service Dogs in Training for a very long time, maybe even the dog’s entire life! Dogs like these can be relied on to help their handler by doing their trained tasks, but don’t go everywhere their human goes, because of the anxiety caused by the attention drawn to the service dog.
Dogs like this are trained to do tasks but have not taken the Public Access test. They mostly help their handlers at home, as they’re not official Service Dogs and don’t have the right to go everywhere. It’s common for service dogs to experience separation anxiety when they’re away from their human because they don’t know if their human is okay! These dogs may need another caregiver they’re comfortable with when they can’t be with their human.
Therapy animals are naturally very calm and loving, and are also trained in specific ways. An example is Equine Therapy, which uses horses trained to help people living with various conditions. They help in many ways, including helping people overcome fears. There may be an Equine Therapy provider near you!
Some schools and nursing homes also have therapy dogs to help students and patients remain calm. There is a Victim’s Services professional in Trail, BC, who has a therapy dog to help those who’ve experienced violence or a crisis to be soothed. Again, therapy animals have a naturally affectionate disposition and are not easily startled as well as special training.
Another example is a famous therapy cat on Facebook named Baxter. Baxter goes to hospitals, hospices and nursing homes to help patients in distress become calmer. Baxter is naturally very affectionate and has received training to ensure his behaviour is appropriate in healthcare settings.
If you have an animal in your life who helps you or your loved one, you know how lucky you are!